I have been searching for new blinds for six ~35" windows that currently have old (and outdated according to my wife) 2" sagging wood blinds. My wife wanted automated roller shades... and automated in our house means Homekit and Alexa compatible.

The best (voted by almost every site) smart blinds are 'Serena Shades by Lutron' (link posted below). Our quote for six blinds was $5000 (or ~$840 a blind). Since we are still deep in our whole-home remodel I wasn't about to spend $5k on window blinds.

If you google 'smart home window covering reviews'... the Lutron blinds are always 'Best', and the ~$150 IKEA FYRTUR blinds are 'best budget pick'. The biggest problem with the IKEA blinds is they are limited in sizes (none fit our windows)... Until I watched the video below last night.

I ran to IKEA, paid $165 for the size larger than my window opening, sliced it up on my chop saw (#nonFerrousBlade4theWin), cut down the width of the fabric... and in under 30 minutes i had 'custom sized' smart shades connected to homekit (and Alexa).

Lutron Shades = $840 x 6 = $5040
Ikea Shades = $165 x 6 = $990
= $4050 saved

My wife doesn't like the Ikea industrial look so I will have to create a fascia (covering) for the roller mechanism... but that should be easy enough.

tl;dr.. If you want smart blinds, are not afraid to cut aluminum.. give these a good look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wGelM3Jryc&t=2s


Or if you want the 100% out of the box $$$$ custom solution you can find a dealer here 🙂